I believe in Nargles
by dreamseeker09
Summary: "What the hell did you do to Trevor? You were supposed to clean his boils, not elongate his tongue!" 17 Luna-centric drabbles with some Luna/Fred love. Birthday fic for my amazing penpal Anna.


**17 Luna-centric drabbles dedicated to my friend and lovely Danish penpal, Anna. She's just turned 17 so I've written her 17 drabbles on her favourite character, Luna, paired with her other favourite character, Fred. These are for you dear, enjoy **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or Harry Potter in any way. Because if I did, then I would be called 'all powerful god of the fictional universe' instead of my real, much more boring name. **

Soul

The first time Luna entered the great hall, to be greeted by a thousand staring eyes and magically suspended candles, she had honestly been scared. She wanted to flee so they would all stop staring at her. Everything at Hogwarts was so…_big_ in comparison to the little house she shared with her father.

When she was called up to the sorting hat, her knees almost gave in and collapsed. It was by sheer will that she sat on the stool, trembling, and waited until she was enveloped n darkness. A moment later she heard the hat speak.

"Lovegood, eh? Oh I remember now…you lot certainly are odd. Still, good brains though. Smart."

"Why are you able to speak?" Luna thought, causing the sorting hat to chuckle.

"I was charmed, of course, by Godric Gryffindor…"

"So do you have a soul?"

There was a pause, and when the hat answered it was almost sad. "I don't know," it said. "I'd like to think so, but it's unlikely. I was created by magic, and souls are human things."

"But-"

"Enough of this, silly first year. It's time to sort you, and there's really only one house to suit you." The next word was screamed out loud for the whole hall to hear and Luna flushed slightly. "RAVENCLAW!"

"Wait, hat," she started quickly as the clapping started. "Maybe we could talk some more, another time?"

The hat just chuckled. "Go, little one." And as an afterthought it added: "yes, odd indeed."

Light

Sometimes Luna dreamt. And when she did, she dreamt about the light. It was always the same; there would be a bright, blinding white light and everything else dimmed in comparison. And then she saw an outline there, and her mother's voice, calling to her. She could never make out the words. By this time she would usually wake up.

But tonight it was different. There was a boy beside her reaching for that light, a boy with messy black hair, glasses and a lightening shaped scar. She was standing still while he walked slowly, and eventually disappeared, his body dissolving away.

When she woke, terrified, she realised who the boy was: _Harry Potter. _And she couldn't help but wonder what the dream had been trying to tell her.

Herbology trouble

Luna couldn't understand _why_. It seemed that she and Neville were the only ones in the whole class who knew how to properly prune a bulbus tube. Everywhere else, pus was flying around and into people's faces like cake mix. Those poor bulbus tubes. It was such a waste.

"You shouldn't do it like that," she tried to tell Parvati, who was struggling next to her. "Did you know that the pus of bulbus tubes is actually a very good moisturiser for nifflers? It's also the perfect habitat for wild harpies."

"H-harpies?" With a scream, Parvati managed to drop all four of the tubes she was holding and they all burst open simultaneously, causing an explosion of slime. Luna just sighed.

Moony

"My name means moon, you know," Luna mumbled in her usual, dreamy voice. Professor Lupin cocked an eyebrow. They were alone together, the other students having left already. She had stayed behind. "It's peculiar, isn't it, that the boggart turned into a moon when it looked at you."

Remus tried to hide his surprise and anxiety, it was too soon for anyone to find out about him. "I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered, turning away from her.

"It's okay, Lupin sir, but don't be afraid of the moon. You're not afraid of me, are you?"

"That's not exactly the same thing…"

"Lots of people are scared of me," she whispered softly. "But you're not. So don't be afraid of the moon, either." And then she walked away, the door shutting quietly behind her.

Spring cleaning

"My father taught me once the proper way to clean the boils on frogs," Luna explained happily, rooting around the potions lab in search of powdered scarab beetle.

"But," Neville protested, eyes wide. "Trevor's a toad."

"It's the same treatment," she finally found what she was looking for, added it to the potion, and watched it turn a pale violet. "Of course it usually works better with the crushed horn of ice snorkacks, but we'll manage without."

Neville was paper white and clutched onto his toad in fear. Trevor croaked mournfully.

She smiled. "Come here, Trevor. This will make you feel better." She soaked up the potion with a towel and gently dabbed it on the toad's skin. When it made contact however there was a loud _whoosh_ and suddenly the toad's tongue was shooting out of its mouth at an unnatural rate.

As Neville screamed and began to chase after his pet, Luna frowned. "Definitely those ice snorkacks," she muttered, shaking her head.

Name

"Looney Luna," they sang in the halls, voices harsh and mocking. Luna walked on, looking straight ahead, refusing to let them see her upset. It was always like this, she was used to it. When she finally got back to her dorm she stood in front of the large, full length mirror and stared at herself.

Albino hair. Dazed, pale blue eyes. Onion earrings. A tear trailed softly down her cheek. "My name's Luna," she whispered to the empty room.

Change

She never thought anything would change. It was always "Looney Luna," in the halls or "that freak." Today was no different and she just wanted to get away as quickly as possible, to escape their malicious glares and their horrible words. And then she bumped into someone and was sent hurtling backwards onto the floor.

She looked up to see the person, a tall and gangly boy with flaming red hair, freckles and a kind smile, offering his hand. "Are you okay, Luna?" he asked and with a jolt she realised that for the first time, someone had called her by her real name.

Friends

When she first met Harry, she remembered the dream she once had about him, the one where he had walked into that white light and never come back. When she first met Hermione, she was impressed by her amazing knowledge and open mind. And when she first met Ron, she was reminded of his brother Fred, and how he had been the first one to truly know her.

Routine

She always came to feed the threstrals on the weekends. The truth was that she liked their company. The threstrals were calm and peaceful creatures despite what people thought, and they did not judge her so easily. She also strangely felt a connection to the threstrals, as if she were closer to her dead mother when she was around them.

"So this is where you come every Saturday," a voice behind her commented. She smiled without turning around, throwing out some more meat for one of the younger creatures.

"You can see them, too?"

There was a pause. "Yeah…I watched an auror get killed, once."

Neither of them said anything after that for a little while, until she eventually turned to face the red-haired boy behind her. "Come, Fred, why don't you feed them with me?"

He smiled, and walked closer. "Sure," he said, pausing. "Sorry, if you don't want me here, for messing up your routine like this."

"I don't mind," she said softly. "In fact, I'm looking forward to a whole new one."

_Misunderstanding_

"I'm leaving over the Winter break," Luna declared one day over breakfast with Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione.

"Where to?" Harry asked, frowning.

"To the southern outskirts of Pennsylvania."

"Looking for Dracula?" Ron joked.

"Of course not," she shook her head. "I'm searching for the rare crumple-horned snorkack, of course."

"Why?" Hermione asked, looking quite disturbed.

"Because my dad wants to do a special on them for _The Quibbler_ and I must help him find them."

"You shouldn't leave though," Ron said. "It'd be boring without you. And besides, Fred would miss you," he winked, causing the other two to laugh.

"That's true, you two have been spending a lot of time together recently," Hermione noted.

"Maybe you should just take him with you," Ron added, laughing, and then started chanting childishly: "Fred and Luna sitting in a tree, S-N-O-G-G-I-N-G." Harry also burst out into snickers, but Luna simple blinked in confusion.

"Snogging? Is that some sort of muggle way to say goodbye?"

Ron grinned mischievously. "Oh yes, you should do it for Fred before you leave, I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

And so the next day, with her bag packed, Luna caught Fred just outside the Gryffindor common room. "I'm leaving now for the break," she explained.

He pouted. "Aww, pity. Nice of you to come say goodbye, though."

She smiled. "Yes, I have come to do it the 'old fashioned' way as your brother put it. What was the word? Ah yes, I will…snog you."

A few feet away, hidden behind a statue, Ron watched while trying to hold in his laughter. He wouldn't have missed the pleasantly surprised look of shock on Fred's face for the world.

The pixie and the basilisk

"Are you sure this is okay, Luna?" Harry asked nervously, fidgeting with his dress robes. She had agreed to go with him as his 'date' to Slughorn's party.

She smiled at him and took his hand, platinum hair tied up in an elegant bun and glinting silver in the light. She looked beautiful, tonight. "Of course, Harry. Now stop doing that, the billywigs are attracted to wrinkled clothing you know."

"What?" Harry asked, perturbed.

"They like to eat all sorts of things," Luna continued. "But moth balls and wrinkled clothing are their favourites."

Harry just sighed, shaking his head, and roughly grabbing her hand. "Come on, let's just go and get this over with."

"It will be fun," Luna tried to console him. "Compared to Voldemort, dealing with Slughorn should be like a pixie going up against a basilisk."

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah," he agreed, and he couldn't help but think that maybe tonight would be better than he had originally thought. "Thanks for coming, Luna, you're a good friend."

Dumbledore's army

The truth was that Luna loved being a member of Dumbledore's army. She looked forward to the meetings, to learning all of these new and fascinating spells, to talking with the various other members. Harry, Ron and Hermione were excellent teachers and only in the first few lessons she had quickly mastered the Patronus charm. Her Patronus was a silver hare, with big ears and wrongly proportioned feet. Hermione's was an otter, and Luna was almost jealous of the beautiful and graceful animal. But the most graceful by far was Harry's; a majestic stag.

However, the real reason Luna loved Dumbledore's army was because for once _she_ was a part of it. She was a part of something special, she was included, and she was not ridiculed for it. She felt a sense of contentment when she was with them, of true happiness.

And, she tried to convince herself, the presence of a certain carrot-haired twin had nothing to do with it either.

Mischief managed

"Oi, Luna, come with us will you?" George Weasley whispered in her ear before dragging her, by force, with them anyway.

"Where are you taking me?" The odd girl did not resist nor did she seem worried, she let the twins drag her all the way to the statue of the one eyed hunchback, before they whispered something and they were suddenly pulling her down into a secret tunnel.

"It leads to Honeydukes, in Hogsmead," Fred explained. He grinned cheekily, and then pulled out a blank piece of paper. "You, Miss Lovegood, should be flattered-,"

"For you have the privilege of seeing the reason for our success as pranksters, firsthand," George finished. Then he took the parchment, tapped with it his wand and whispered "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

And immediately the marauder's map came to life as lines and dots inked their way across the page, growing outwards like a web. Luna gasped, staring in awe. "So this is how…" she whispered. She looked up at both of them. "Why are you showing me this?"

"Because we trust you," Fred said simply.

"And we want your help to find some bowtruckles for our next prank," George added.

Blue eyes

Luna could never remember much about her mother. She had seen her die, but had little time to see her live. The death had happened so fast, and she was so young at the time, that for weeks afterwards she did not understand that mother was gone, that she _wasn't coming back this time._ And even when she did realise this, it had never sunk in properly. After that she had just blocked out the memories of her mother completely, bundled them up and stored them away in the back of her mind, to grow mould and rot.

It was Fred who made her remember.

"What was she like?" he asked her once, as they walked the edge of the dark lake. "You never talk about her."

Luna shrugged. "I don't remember much really," she murmured softly. "I stopped remembering a while after the accident."

"Surely you remember what she looked like though. Her hair colour, her eyes…?"

Luna paused for a moment, before shaking her head again. "No, I'm sorry, I can't even remember that much." And she started crying silently. It was rather pathetic, and usually she would never let anything affect her like this, but in the end she knew that when it happened it had hurt.

She felt Fred wrap his arms around her hesitantly and she stiffened for a moment in surprise, before closing her eyes. It was then that she remembered. Her hair…her mother's hair was golden. And her eyes were the same cobalt blue as hers.

"Blue," Luna whispered into Fred's shirt.

"What?" he questioned, gentle coffee eyes confused.

"Her eyes were blue," Luna said, and smiled sadly.

Be there

"Thank you, Luna, for what you did, for helping us at the Ministry of Magic," Harry croaked out from the bed beside her in the hospital wing. Ever since he had arrived he had stayed resolutely silent, eyes glazed over and lost. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville, on the beds further down had stayed silent, unsure what to say.

"Don't worry about it Harry," Luna smiled softly at him, sad for his loss. It was a pity that Sirius had died.

"No, really Luna, thank you. Without your help with the Threstrals, we wouldn't have been able to get there in the first place."

"I wanted to help," she said. "I am a part of Dumbledore's army, after all." She paused for a moment, speaking softly: "I'm…really sorry about Sirius, Harry. What happened wasn't right, but you know eventually you have to move forward. You have to defeat Voldemort."

"I know," Harry responded hollowly.

"You're not alone," she whispered. "You have so many people who are willing to support you. I want to help too, in any way that I can. I used to just be a 'freak' but all of you chose to be my friends and I'm grateful…so I want to help, if you'll let me."

"You already have, Luna," Neville smiled from his own bed. "More than you know."

Beyond the Veil

There was a moment in the Ministry of magic, horrible and suffocating, when Luna wished that she could follow those voices beyond the veil. She could hear her mother, her soft voice with gentle meaningless words, just behind that black curtain. She was so close to her, and yet they were still worlds apart. All she had to do was go beyond that veil, and she would be with her again. And none of the other stuff that was happening, the death eaters and the fighting and pain, none of it would matter anymore.

But then she realised that she couldn't. She had things to live for. She had to live, to help Harry defeat Voldemort, to continue Dumbledore's army when he went to fight, to be there. And most of all she wanted to stay alive, because Fred was alive as well.

I believe in Nargles

It was Christmas at Hogwarts, and a crisp blanket of snow covered the grounds outside. Many people had gone home for the holidays but Luna had stayed. Her father was working on the Quibbler's next issue and was travelling, so she couldn't stay with him. The few others she knew who were staying included Harry and Neville. She did not normally celebrate Christmas, so this holiday was not a big deal to her. It came and went, just the same, every year. However she was pleasantly surprised on Christmas eve when someone grabbed her arm in the corridor and she turned to face a bright, sunny grin.

"I thought you went home for the holidays, Fred," she said, surprised.

"I was going to," he explained. "But then, I'd rather spend it with you."She blushed slightly and before she could say anything, he was leading her back down the corridor. When they entered the Gryffindor common room, it was empty and peaceful. A fire was roaring and the soft armchairs looked inviting. The first thing she noticed was the mistletoe.

"Nargles live in mistletoe you know," she said, "but it seems like I'm the only one who believes in them." He lead her until they were underneath it. They stopped and she looked at him quizzically, tilting her head. "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

He smiled again, and he looked genuinely happy. It was a lovely thing to see him happy like that. "I just wanted to wish you a merry Christmas, that was all," he said softly, before adding: "And just for the record, I _do_ believe in nargles."

And then he kissed her.

**And…Tada! There you have it. 17 drabbles and my fingers are turning into Spaghetti. After writing this I suddenly really like this pairing actually. Luna/Fred I mean. I think Luna could bring out the softer side of Fred and keep him under control, while he can make up for her loneliness. So I really did enjoy writing these drabbles. And I also really hope that Anna, the birthday girl, likes them as well, because they are all dedicated to her. I hope you had a lovely birthday Anna, and good luck in everything that you do **

**Please review and tell me your favourite drabble, or I'll be the one looking for the bowtruckles ;)**


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